Darling Harbour to undergo multibillion-dollar redevelopment

The New South Wales State Government has unveiled plans for a $2.5 billion redevelopment of Sydney’s iconic Darling Harbour.

The plans reveal a large network of public areas including a convention centre, a grass-covered exhibition centre and a theatre with a capacity of 8,000, which takes in a 20-hectare zone between Cockle Bay, Haymarket and Ultimo.

The convention centre will include a 33 metre-high terrace, which will provide 40,000 square metres of exhibition space and a 5,000 square metre outdoor deck.

The project will also include new public gardens, 1,400 residential apartments, around 1,000 bed student accommodation, a 2,000-person ballroom and a new 680 metre tree-lined boulevard.

Eventually the project will also include a 900-room international hotel, but plans are yet to be lodged.

Hassell,

OMA and

Populous have been appointed as the design team for the convention centre, while the NSW Government is partnering with a consortium including

Lend Lease and their in-house infrastructure arm 

Capella Capital, international venue and event manager 

AEG Ogden and facilities management giant 

Spotless, for the overall development of the precinct.

The consortium has been contracted to design, build, finance, operate and maintain what will be Australia’s largest convention, exhibition and entertainment facilities.

Two separate Project Development Agreements have been reached with Lend Lease to build the hotel on the precinct’s northern part as well as a new mixed-use development in Haymarket in the south.

50 per cent of the equity will be invested by Lend Lease alongside the national industry super fund for tourism and hospitality, HOSTPLUS in the Public Private Partnership (PPP).

The redevelopment of the convention centre will mean the demolition of the current award-winning Cox Richardson designed convention centre.

However, the redevelopment of the precinct is expected to deliver $5 billion in economic value for NSW.

According to NSW Deputy Premier Andrew Stoner, the redevelopment of the Darling Harbour precinct is expected to provide a big boost to the NSW economy providing 3,700 jobs during construction and ongoing employment for 4,000 people upon completion.

Construction of the hotel and convention centre is expected to be completed by the end of 2016, while the redevelopment of the residential and mixed-use project in Haymarket is due for completion in the early 2020s.

The planning applications are available for public viewing until early May 2013 on the NSW Planning and Infrastructure website.

Lodged by the consortium and Lend Lease, the applications outline the redevelopment of the core convention, exhibition and entertainment facilities and associated upgrades to the public domain, done through PPP between the NSW Government and the Darling Harbour consortium group.

They also include the concept plan for the new Haymarket part of the precinct, which outlines the broad plan for the area, such as building envelopes and design parameters. This will be delivered through a separate Project Delivery, but detailed Development Applications will need to be lodged pending concept plan approval.

Lend Lease plan to lodge their Development Application for the hotel later this year.